This review is free of major spoilers, in the interests of being helpful to those who are considering watching the show in question.

“Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.”

You may remember that I reviewed the first season of Aldnoah.Zero some time ago. Despite the many gripes that I had about it, I ended up giving it a fairly favorable rating of 3.4–mostly due to my admiration of the twists and turns at the end of the season. Much to my dismay… well, we’ll get to that later. Spoilers for Season 1 follow!Continue reading →

Minor spoilers follow for The Knights’ Tale. If you haven’t read it yet, why not start now?

After finishing up with the first story thread, I figured that I’d go back through and figure out things that I’d like to change for the next draft. Thus, without any further ado, a retrospective.

Although it was the easiest way to keep things consistent as far as NaNoWriMo went, I think that the story would be more effective if there were more viewpoint characters than just Captain Perin—after all, even if he is the commanding officer, there are quite a few things he doesn’t see going on. The other viewpoint characters would probably be Miri and Vera, and possibly Ser Janine as well.

In that vein, the story should begin in medias res, with Miri riding patrol and being ambushed by the Caldemar scouts. This would probably be a more effective way of drawing the reader’s interest. Because of this, the peripheral character of Stefan will be altered somewhat—first off, he’ll no longer be Miri’s brother, and secondly, he will certainly be dead before the prologue is done. Thus, Saren will have had no warning of the Caldemar attack. This doesn’t actually change much—they just are defeated a little bit more quickly now.

The overall objective of Perin’s squad may be changed from delivering a specific message to general courier duty. This allows their initial chapters to take more time in fleshing out the characters of Perin’s squad before throwing Miri’s situation at them. If the story begins in medias res, Perin’s chapters would begin a short time before Miri’s, in a sort of “how we got here” bit. This should also do a better job of establishing characterization for Lyon and Vera—Vera is no-nonsense, bold, and straightforward, while Lyon is analytical, cautious, and much more emotionally sensitive. Vera is the far superior combatant, which is something that needs to be acknowledged. As for Lyon, his lack of fighting skill is offset by his intellect, which makes him better suited to directing combat than fighting on the front lines.

The relationship between Ser Janine and Princess Arienne is somewhat inconsistent in its current form, which will have to be given a bit of correction. The idea that I’m shooting for is that Princess Arienne treats Janine more casually, like an older sister or cousin, while Janine is much more formal. Looking back at some of the dialogue, it seems to imply that the two of them are much closer than they actually are—Janine’s slips into calling Arienne by her first name, for instance, are rather out-of-character for her very professional and capable demeanor.

A relatively minor, but still important, concern: many of the knights’ horses don’t have names, which makes their riders seem less important in comparison to the ones who do have named mounts. This will have to be rectified.

I may try for more exposition earlier on, to give a better idea on what exactly the political situation of the Five Kingdoms is as opposed to the Empire.

Finally, what every fantasy book needs at some point: a viewpoint chapter for the villains. I think that the best way to make an antagonist compelling is to show their side of the situation, and what their beliefs are.

Perin’s company has reached the bridge, but they are still in danger. After an attack by Caldemar scouts, their numbers have been reduced almost by half, and an enemy mage is advancing on their position. To protect Princess Arienne as she works her spell on the bridge, they must hold their ground…

For any of you who were actually following my NaNoWriMo project turned fantasy serial, I feel like I should fill you in on how that’s coming along. As I mentioned last time I wrote on the subject, I’ve nearly reached the end–at least, of the story I set out to tell in the initial project–and there isn’t a great deal left. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to get through that “not a great deal left.” Rest assured, however, that I am continuing work on it, and I do intend to finish it. (And then, probably, continue it.)

February was a hectic month for me, with multiple concerts, class projects, and writing up the budget for a student organization taking up most of my time. Although March will likely be busy as well, it does have the advantage of Spring Break right in the middle, which should allow me at least a little bit of time for pushing on through the final hours of the Saren Knights’ race to the border.

My main regret is that I cut off on a cliffhanger, which of course makes the waiting difficult for whoever’s reading, but now that I have my priorities in order, it’s only a matter of time. Expect a continuation… soon (TM).

This review is free of major spoilers, in the interests of being helpful to those who are considering playing the game in question.

“Men are honored, women are abased.”

Last login: user “Kim Hyun-ae”, 221432 days ago

I’ve played quite a few visual novels by now, but never before have I played one that did such an excellent job of justifying the gameplay elements of a visual novel, grabbing my attention, and holding it. Analogue does all of these things. Continue reading →